Queen Elizabeth's Men were founded in 1583 by royal order under the Master of the Revels. The company gathered leading actors and toured widely as a national theatrical instrument. It helped organise English drama before the rise of Shakespeare's company.

The company matters because theatre was an oral and bodily literary culture, not merely printed scripts. Its touring practices spread stories, jokes and political feeling through towns and courts, shaping the audience for Elizabethan dramatic poetry.